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It was quite a sight. Across the giant oval conference table from Volkswagen board member Christian Klingler and myself (I happened to be seated next to him) was a row of mostly New Age green-car journalists wearing expressions of absolute disbelief. (As well as a look of complete exhaustion after a long day that included a high-speed train ride from Berlin to Wolfsburg, a tour of Volkswagen’s Autostadt auto-amusement park, an unexpected brief drive in the Golf R — including getting completely lost — and finally, a brief stint through drizzling evening traffic behind the wheel of what I thought I’d come here for in the first place: the prototype battery-electric Golf Blue-e-motion.)

But it was this exchange among my colleagues and Mr. Klinger that really defined everything.

“The electric car,” Mr. Klingler said, carefully pronouncing every syllable, “is not a request from the consumer; it’s a request from the government.” At this, a few among the crowd grew combative. “Are you saying there isn’t a demand for electric vehicles?” one interrupted. “Let me say it again.” Klinger repeated in the measured manner of a schoolteacher: “The electric car is not a request from the consumer; it’s a request from the government”. Dead silence. If the folks on the other side of the room had pitchforks and torches instead of pens and paper, I would have run the other way. Our PR handlers slowly sank in their seats.

I don’t think this was quite the message Volkswagen brought us here to report on. ‘Volkswagen Developing EVs Only Because It Has To.’ Quite a headline. Makes you feel warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it? Excited to buy one?

As we walked back to our hotel, a few of the guys — whom I detect are green in more ways than one (about quarter-century younger than I) — were still blistering mad. My reaction? Hey, the guy was being refreshingly honest.

While Nissan‘s Carlos Ghosn is trumpeting the arrival of the Leaf as if he were Robert Preston leading the parade in “The Music Man’s” “76 trombones” number, I say, don’t be gullible, dear reader. Have a sip of coffee and listen closely: Building cars is a business. Purely. A. Business. Only Tesla, I suspect, actually believes it exists to save the planet (ironically, Elon Musk’s other big endeavor, SpaceX, was created to someday migrate humankind into the cosmos so we’ll survive the inevitable asteroid impact that’ll destroy Earth anyway). In some minds, Tesla‘s belief in its own propaganda is its greatest weakness.

So what is the 2013/14 EV Golf the government is requesting Volkswagen to build?

I’m not completely sure. The car I drove, one of a fleet of 50 prototypes VW is evaluating, is based on the current Golf platform, not the next, modular one, which the production version will utilize. In addition, its production lithium-ion battery pack has yet to be defined. Prismatic cells? Pouch-type? Supplier? What we’re sure of is that it won’t consist of a Tesla-like collection of little 18650 cells — a point, I’d speculate, that might have nudged Tesla cofounder Martin Eberhardt’s departure from VW’s EV activities to pursue greener pastures.

On paper, the prototype appears quite competitive with its natural nemesis, the Leaf. With 114 horsepower and 199 pound-feet of torque, the Golf bests the Leaf’s horsepower by 7, but has 8 fewer pound-feet. VW says this e-Golf takes 11.8 seconds to 62 mph; we estimate the Nissan will reach 60 in 10 seconds. And a recharge with 240-volt power fills the Leaf’s 24 kW-hr battery in 7 hours for a claimed 100-mile range, while the Golf’s 26.5 kW-hr pack needs in 8 hours for 93 miles. Mox Nix, I’d say.

What is a giant difference is that Golf Blue-e-motion is a Volkswagen, meaning additional battery weight or no, it has a special simpatico with the road. This was startlingly apparent even on the wet, bustling city streets of Wolfsburg, where its steering bit into corners in a way that would be familiar to any petrol-powered Volkswagen driver. (Imagine what it would be like if VW were more enthusiastic about EVs!) A nice detail was this prototype’s repurposing of the DSG paddles into toggles that let you quickly toggle between four levels of regenerative braking (“recuperation,” they amusingly call it), ranging from freewheeling to so much resistance you won’t need the brakes except for genuine stopping. Something I didn’t have a chance to explore, given the rain, chaotic traffic, and scant time available, are the trio of available driving modes: Comfort+ (which, confusingly, means all 114 e-ponies are on tap), Normal (limits you to 87 horsepower), and Range+ (where power is further curtailed to 67 horses and speed limited to 65 mph). In ‘Comfort +’ (I think I was there), acceleration was EV-swift off the line though a full pedal mash triggered some nasty wheelhop episodes on the wet streets — understandable, what with being a prototype.

VW’s timeline for electrification begins with the Jetta hybrid in 2012, followed by the Up! EV in 2013 (thought to be too small for U.S. consumption), and finally the production version of Golf Blue-e-motion in either late 2013 or early 2014.

But the question hovering over all of them is: Despite Mr. Klingler’s distinct lack of enthusiasm, is VW serious about EVs? The company’s series of experimental or highly limited production EV Golfs — which extends back to a 1976 example with 27 horsepower — either suggests a meticulous, Germanic study of the subject or a pathological lack of EV seriousness.

The answer? As I said above, this is a business. And Mr. Klinger appears very serious about that. If Nissan’s trailblazing bravado actually incites a “request from the consumer,” there’s no doubt Volkswagen will be right there ready to sell one whale of a fun-driving electric vehicle.